The Travel Thread

[Moomin]

Booked to go to Rome in a few weeks.

Any suggestions on excursions/tours?

If you are with a loved one by the Spanish steps be prepared to get harassed to buy a Rose.

As the romantic person i am, i told them to sod off.

Beautiful city to walk around.

 

[Philw]

If you are with a loved one by the Spanish steps be prepared to get harassed to buy a Rose.

As the romantic person i am, i told them to sod off.

Beautiful city to walk around.

Was closed for refurbishment when i was there last year ☹ But god, the amount of ppl hawking stuff all over the place!

 

[Moomin]

Was closed for refurbishment when i was there last year ☹ But god, the amount of ppl hawking stuff all over the place!

The steps was the worst for it, brilliant city though.

 

[Hogwild]

What travel agent did you use? Looked at that a few years back but never went in the end.

Booked it all ourselves. Stayed in Manuel Antonio at a place called Tulemar - can't recommend it highly enough, it was fabulous.

Saw humpback whales, went white water rafting, took an ATV tour and went zip lining while there (one line was over a kilometer long).

Lovely, lovely country with both mountains and beach in the same locale.

 

[EvertonCJ]

Booked to go to Rome in a few weeks.

Any suggestions on excursions/tours?

The Vatican Museums are definitely worth a visit. Book online and get a skip the queue ticket. We queued for 2 hours one morning without getting anywhere near the front of the queue. We went online that evening and bought tickets. The next morning, we just walked straight to the front of the queue and were inside within ten minutes.
Here is the official link: http://www.museivaticani.va/content...libera-musei-vaticani-e-cappella-sistina.html
Beer in the restaurants was very expensive. I was paying about 12 euros for a litre. In the shops, a 660ml of Peroni was 1 euro.

 

[rascal]

What is the deal with flights around Christmas? Are they always twice the price?

 

[edge]

Beautiful island mate, loads to do in Broddick and Lamlash, visit the brewery and distillery.

Just back enjoyed it , lots of decent walks and scenery, mostly decent weather after a wet start, stayed in Lamlash for the price we paid the house was spot on, people were good ,lots from all over the world knocking about as you went about.
Anyone going up there pre book the restaurant s the day before as the get full, there is a Indian takeaway there that's decent , and one of the restaurant s does takeaway pizzas but not much else unless you get a table.
Easy to drive around, avoid the Glasgow motorway route going up to the ferry , its a pain , better cutting across
country, more scenic and not gridlocked.
Highlight for me was getting slightly lost one day and finding an ancient Cain (burial plot) and watching three eagles swooping around a cliff , magical .

 

[obc]

Booked to go to Rome in a few weeks.

Any suggestions on excursions/tours?

As was noted earlier with the Colosseum, but to expand... book EVERYTHING in advance. Not sure on the Colosseum as we used Roma Pass for that, which had us skip the line, but my wife was able to book the Borghese and Vatican in advance. Wouldn't have gotten in to the Borghese without it and saved *hours* in the rain when we skipped a rather long line and just walked straight into the Vatican museum.

Didn't do any excursions, only had three and a half days in the city, and there was more than enough to do in that timeframe.

If you are with a loved one by the Spanish steps be prepared to get harassed to buy a Rose.

As the romantic person i am, i told them to sod off.

Beautiful city to walk around.

Same happened here. Only wasn't harassed to buy it as much as extorted after the fact. Some guy gave a *plastic* rose to my wife. "Oh, how nice." I thought.

Then he asked me for money. "Oh. How nice."

Eventually following us half way to Trevi Fountain with me acidly spitting "Take. It. Back" through gritted teeth, he did so and left us alone.

 

[centralTon]

Just back enjoyed it , lots of decent walks and scenery, mostly decent weather after a wet start, stayed in Lamlash for the price we paid the house was spot on, people were good ,lots from all over the world knocking about as you went about.
Anyone going up there pre book the restaurant s the day before as the get full, there is a Indian takeaway there that's decent , and one of the restaurant s does takeaway pizzas but not much else unless you get a table.
Easy to drive around, avoid the Glasgow motorway route going up to the ferry , its a pain , better cutting across
country, more scenic and not gridlocked.
Highlight for me was getting slightly lost one day and finding an ancient Cain (burial plot) and watching three eagles swooping around a cliff , magical .

My missus was down in Arran from Wed til Fri this week, her pal owns a wee cottage just outside Lamlash. Glad you enjoyed it.

 

[rascal]

Just booked a one way flight to Goa in December, stay there for a week before heading to Mumbai and then a flight to SE Asia should the prices back to the UK not prove prohibitive.

 

[Brendan Janus]

Just booked a one way flight to Goa in December, stay there for a week before heading to Mumbai and then a flight to SE Asia should the prices back to the UK not prove prohibitive.

Sounds tiring !!

 

[rascal]

Sounds tiring !!

Pity that I am not going to Thailand. You'd be able to say 'sounds thai-ring' if I was

 

[JammyP]

As was noted earlier with the Colosseum, but to expand... book EVERYTHING in advance. Not sure on the Colosseum as we used Roma Pass for that, which had us skip the line, but my wife was able to book the Borghese and Vatican in advance. Wouldn't have gotten in to the Borghese without it and saved *hours* in the rain when we skipped a rather long line and just walked straight into the Vatican museum.

Didn't do any excursions, only had three and a half days in the city, and there was more than enough to do in that timeframe.



Same happened here. Only wasn't harassed to buy it as much as extorted after the fact. Some guy gave a *plastic* rose to my wife. "Oh, how nice." I thought.

Then he asked me for money. "Oh. How nice."

Eventually following us half way to Trevi Fountain with me acidly spitting "Take. It. Back" through gritted teeth, he did so and left us alone.

Last time in Rome went to Roma v Napoli. Good match. Extraordinary stadium - still a monument to Mussolini and fascist mosaics outside. Just the ruins of another faded emperor I suppose

 

[Eggs]

....just booked flights for a little off the cuff Dublin weekend in October. I've concentrated on the West Coast so haven't been to Dublin for 20 years. I'll probably do the race meeting at Leopardstown whilst I'm there.

Mrs Eggs, my kids and their other halfs coming. Any advice on accommodation would be appreciated.

I don't want cheap and cheerful, although I know Dublin is expensive anyway. Thinking along the lines of a good bar/hotel where we can get a decent meal after racing and listen to a bit of yidlee diddlee.

 

[rascal]

How long should one spend in Mumbai?